Each side plays all its units then passes the turn (Tab). A unit fires only once per turn, twice in contact with a supply truck or within 5 tiles of the general; the heavy tank, the attack chopper, the anti-aircraft battery and the general always fire twice, one weapon per shot.
Fully restored every turn, they pay for steps and shots: a shot costs half of them. Resupplying, loading, unloading, towing: every order also costs action points.
A unit down to half its hit points pays double for every step. Foot soldiers are healed by a medic or a hospital, vehicles at the workshop or by an engineer.
A unit boards a neighboring truck if it has not moved this turn. On board, it cannot fire and cannot be hit. A truck carries two small units or one medium one.
Roads speed you up; forest, hill, marsh and crater slow you down; water can only be crossed at a bridge. Only foot soldiers enter a ruined village. Nobody crosses a finished building or a construction site, even an abandoned one.
A vehicle burns fuel on every tile, far more on difficult terrain than on the road: a detour via the road saves action points and fuel.
After moving, range is halved; firing then falling back costs nothing. The rocket launcher and the sniper fire only when standing still.
A unit, forest or hill in the way stops direct fire. A single village ruin does not, two do. The mortar and the gun lob their shells over any obstacle.
Each shot uses one round; out of ammo, a unit stops firing. Refill at a depot or a supply truck.
The gun's shell blasts 2 tiles around its target: every unit caught, friend or foe, takes half the damage. Gun, mortar and tank shells dig a crater in the grassland they hit.
A gun, mortar or tank shell that hits a forest, or a vehicle that explodes in it, sets it ablaze for a few turns: any unit that stays inside loses hit points at the end of each of its side's turns. Only scorched earth remains.
After one turn, the fire spreads to the neighboring forests, but no farther; autumn rain stops it. In summer, a forest can also catch fire by itself, one turn in 6. In spring, scorched earth grows back into forest, except where the engineers placed a work, a building or a mine.
A finished or unfinished enemy building can be targeted and takes full damage, without cover. Finished then destroyed, it leaves rubble that an engineer must clear; a work site vanishes without a trace.
In Fire mode, a work that is not yours, neutral bridge included, can be targeted and takes full damage. Under a unit, only finished trenches, bunkers and dragon's teeth can be targeted this way. Firing at a unit also damages the work or building on its tile, except with 1-damage weapons.
Invisible to the enemy, they deal 3 damage to whoever enters their tile. An engineer spots them within 2 tiles, then removes them with the Defuse order.
Forest, hill, ruined village, wreck, work or building protects the unit standing there: shots hurt it less. These protections add up, and the general reassures nearby troops.
Cover also hides a unit, all the better if it is small: the enemy has to come closer to spot it.
A unit on overwatch keeps its shot for the enemy turn and fires at whatever moves or appears in range. Neither the sniper, the general nor the observer can go on overwatch.
A direct-fire unit, except the sniper, the general, the observer and helicopters, is given an area 2 tiles in radius: at the end of each turn, it walks its round there and fires at any enemy that comes in range.
You only see what your units and buildings see, 10 tiles away at most. Enemy mines stay invisible. The watchtower sees 12 tiles, beyond the fog.
A sniper or observer in cover who has neither moved nor fired since his last turn camouflages himself (leaf next to his health bar): it takes 2 more tiles to spot him. Watchtowers and drones still see him.
At night, units see 2 tiles less (1 at dusk and dawn); autumn rain and winter snow remove 1 more tile. Buildings and drones are not affected. Seasons and time.
A drone stays within 8 tiles of its operator, 12 with a recon drone in the air or within 8 tiles of a completed watchtower, or it crashes. Its battery lasts a few turns: landed next to the operator, it recharges.
Infantry, rocket launchers, snipers, scouts, heavy tanks and anti-aircraft batteries down a drone with one shot; the jammer destroys them within 6 tiles. A falling drone deals 1 damage where it crashes.
A helicopter flies over everything and burns fuel every turn in flight, even when hovering. Shot down or out of fuel in flight, it crashes with its cargo up to 2 tiles away and deals 1 damage to whatever is there.
A helicopter in flight can stop above a unit or a building, friend or foe, but never lands on it. A ground unit passes and stops beneath it. Fire, mines, shell blasts and drone bombs only hit the ground, never an aircraft in flight.
The Land order sets it down on grassland, scorched earth or its heliport's pad: landed, it uses nothing, cannot fire and takes off again by moving. It only refuels when landed, next to a supply truck or a depot, or on the pad.
In flight, only the rocket launcher, the heavy tank's rocket, the anti-aircraft battery, kamikaze drones and other armed helicopters can shoot it down; landed, any shot hits it, except the sniper's and the anti-aircraft battery's, which don't aim that low.
Only an engineer enters it. Posted on it, he takes it after 2 consecutive ends of his side's turn, with no enemy within 4 tiles; if he leaves or an enemy comes close, it starts again from zero. A captured point turns neutral again as soon as an enemy comes within 4 tiles: it must be retaken.
Destroy all enemy units, or hold 4 of the map's 5 victory points. Missions sometimes set their own objectives: hold until a given turn, escort a convoy, take down a general…
General Clumsy